Page 21 of Satanic Shadow
“Don’t look at me like that, mortal. I’ve made my feelings towards you very clear. I want to watch you suffer, hear you beg, and feel you take your final breath with my hand around your throat.Thatis not a lie.”
I do the only thing acceptable at my height—I knee him between the legs, satisfied when he drops down to my feet in agonizing pain.
I should be scared, running, begging for my life, but I hum in contentment as I sit back down on my bed, reading the list once more as he tries not to burn down the castle with fury.
“As soon as you stop crying, get the fuck out of my room.”
A gust of wind swipes the list out of my hand, and Dane is on top of me in a blink. He straddles my waist, rage in his eyes, pinning my hands above me.
His ghost hands take my throat. “Do not ever hit me there again.”
Instead of wincing or flinching, I smirk. “I hope it hurts.”
“Shut the fuck up. I have two questions left. Would you fuck your teacher?”
I shrug. Might as well be honest. “If you mean Valin Mallory, then I probably would.”
His grip tightens on my wrists and throat, but not enough to cause pain. Dominance—that’s what he’s trying to prove.
“Last question.” He lowers his face until his cheek grazes mine and whispers against my ear. “Do you want to fuck me, mortal? Do you want me to slide my cock between your legs and make you forget your precious professor?”
My eyes widen as he lifts his head to look at me. Silver eyes with dilated pupils stare back.
“Absolutely not!” But as the words fall from my lips, so does a loud scream as invisible nails stab into my brain.
8
I’m starting to think I’ve made the wrong friends here in the academy.
While all three of us sit on a log in the middle of the forest, the twins discuss between themselves their favorite childhood memory. How they killed their father, and the way he squealed like a pig when they ripped his eyes from their sockets and made him choke on his own skin. From what I’ve heard from them, he was an evil individual, so I find his death acceptable to an extent. What I don’t agree with is that they feel absolutely no remorse; that they find it funny that theykilledtheirfather.
Poppy giggles when Mel tells me they were wanted from then on, and that their mother sent them here to not only escape being killed as a result of the laws in their realm but to protect them from the destruction of their world.
At least their mother seems nice.
“What’s task two again?” Poppy asks, trying to catch raindrops in her palm.
I pull the list from my satchel and clear my throat.
“Task two…” I begin reading out the scroll in my hand while we wait for our next class. “Physical touch is important to humans, and one of the ways to demonstrate and sense a person’s trust is through touch. For this task, you will be spending time with your partner and getting used to how they feel. A minimum of six hours is expected. I suggest sharing a bed or holding hands to make up some of this time. This task will be recorded and sent to me.”
Mel scoffs. Poppy plays with an orb she’s made from gathering drops of water, which is floating above her head, and I shift on the log so I’m lying on my back.
“So we need to… what? Just touch each other?”
“She has a point,” I say. “It does build trust to be comfortable with someone touching you.” I nod, rereading the task. “I think it’s so task three is more straightforward.”
Poppy pops her bubblegum. As soon as she found out it was a type of human candy, she became addicted to blowing the biggest of bubbles. “I don’t mind two. I quite liked task one. And three looks fun.”
“It looks horrific and boring,” Mel says, rolling her eyes. “Did you both do task one too?”
We both nod.
Mel inspects her nails. “Orsen’s questions surprised me. I expected sexual and rude ones, but he genuinely asked questions about me and my life.”
“Brandt asked me all my firsts,” Poppy says, blushing the deepest shade of red. “What about you, Sera? I’m shocked that you and Dane haven’t killed each other yet.”
I tell them, dodging any mention of the last question. It resulted in me covering my face in embarrassment and Dane disappearing into thin air as he got the hell out of my room.
